Sang Dao

Location: Portland, OR

Research has shown that children are amenable to rehabilitation and services. However, children who are charged as adults face the same serious sentences as adults. Growing up in a gang-involved family, Sang first became involved with the juvenile justice system at the age of 13. He was placed on bench probation, and from there spiraled deeper into the criminal justice system. When he was 17 years-old, he was sentenced as an adult to a prison term of 12.5 years due to mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines in place in Oregon (Measure 11). Sang currently works for the Multnomah County Juvenile Department – the same one that he went through as a teenager - as a Juvenile Counseling Assistant that supervise juveniles, some once like himself, on juvenile probation. He also sits on Oregon's State Advisory Group, advising the govermment on ways to improve the juvenile justice system.